In each case the Turks were merciless in punishing mistakes by unleashing a clinical counterattack, led by St. Etienne (France) forward Mevlut Erdinc. The USA will need to show they can foil that counter and, most importantly, avoid the costly error.

"We need games that really keep us on our toes," US manager Jurgen Klinsmann said. "We need games, especially for our backline that challenges them not to lose focus and concentration not even for one moment in our game. Otherwise you get punished and that costs you badly, especially when you go into Brazil.

"Turkey is an unpredictable team," Klinsmann said. "And it’s a team that has a lot of individual skills in there, good players that can make a difference in half a second."

But the US manager says fans shouldn't mistake Turkey for Portugal -- "You can't imitate Portugal because you don’t find a second Cristiano Ronaldo out there," he argues.

And although they might not be an identical match, US goalkeeper Tim Howard still feels that the match at Red Bull Arena will give the US team a taste of what they can expect in Brazil.

"Turkey is going to set us up really well for the [World Cup] group," Howard said. "They're going to hit us on the break. It's going to be a wide-open game. They've got some playmakers, which is exactly the way the three teams in our group are set up."